Link the Wanderer
by NeoSuplex
Summary: A fiction based on the OoT Game. Takes place after the game and involves Link coming back into the past and reuniting with Zelda. Chapter 5 is up.
1. The End is the Begining

Link the Wanderer. If any surname could fit me this one would be it. It seems to be all I'm good for at this point. It is more fitting, at least, than "Hero of Time." It is almost as though she gave me that title to mock me. Time has become an enemy more powerful and dangerous than Ganondorf himself. It was Time that forced me to have to leave my homeland...

I expected a hero's welcome. A glorious display of affection for the savior of Hyrule. The only problem was that thanks to the now twisted flow of time, I wasn't a hero quite yet. Hyrule wasn't in any danger. I suspect that Ganondorf won't be able to control the power I unwittingly allowed him access to until he has a little time to adjust. Once he does, however, he will be all but unstoppable. I shuddered slightly at the thought of the damage that he could, and would, cause.

Navi, my personal guardian fairy, came out from her usual resting-place beneath my hat, sensing my discomfort. "Something wrong Link?" I answered with a shake of my head and a weak smile. She was too intelligent to be deceived by my façade.

"With all that we have been through, and as long as this battle has been I know how you behave when you are... when you are upset. Your pace has slowed and your steps have grown heavier. Plus your body just shook violently. What's wrong?"

I opened my mouth to reply but closed it again quickly. I still couldn't force myself to speak.

"I see. You still don't want to confide in me. That's OK." Although an intense glow obscured her face, I could tell she was crying from the sound of her voice. "I guess that you don't need me anymore. Your task is complete so I'll just return to the forest."

She slowly began to fly away. Even within the magically lighted hall of the Temple of Time I could see that her natural light had become much dimmer in her sadness. _Stop! Don't leave me! _I tried with all of my heart to speak but still my voice was paralyzed. I've fought desperate battles against overwhelming odds and still arose victorious but a residual phobia still plagued me. Ever since my childhood I have feared small flying things. It was about 6 years ago (or 13, depending on your perspective). Back then all the Kokiri kids seemed to tower over me. They actually looked just as they do now come to think of it. They don't seem to ever age at all. Saria was like an older sister to me, always protecting and teaching me. Mido was even more of a bully than he is now. He never missed an opportunity to bother me. One day he stole a bag of deku seeds that I found and wanted to eat. I ran to Saria's house to complain but she wasn't there. Refusing to give up, I ran into the Lost Woods to find her. My mouth was wide open and my eyes were shut because of my crying so I never saw her until it was too late. A fairy flew in front of my path and... I swallowed it.

"Help! Let me out of here!"

Ironically, I was in no position to help her because she was slowly choking the life out of me, her "captor." It turned out that the fairy's liege, who happened to be Saria, was not far behind her.

"Aerith! Where are you? Say something!"

"I'm in here! Help me!"

Saria froze for a moment and attempted to pinpoint the source of the muffled response. Seeing me choking seemed to help her out.

"Hold on, I'll get you out!"

In order to free her comrade, Saria released a kick with surprising power onto my stomach. The fairy was released unharmed, but she kept a strong grudge against me; I can't really blame her. She spread her hatred to the other fairies so none of them wanted to have anything to do with me. Saria however continues to hold nothing against me and didn't tell any one else what had occurred that day. Now, if there are any fairies in the area, I can't bring myself to say more than a few words. That's right everyone: the holder of the triforce of courage, the hero of Hyrule, is afraid of fairies.

A familiar tune coming from the fairy ocarina (I just can't escape them) shook me from my musings. Saria was trying to contact me through the magic of her song. However, the message was in the musical language of the fairies. Unlike the other forest children, I had never learned their language. Navi was one of the few fairies that spoke the Hyrulean language and with out here translation, all I could here was some nice music. I decided then that a hero's welcome was no longer of any importance as long as I could see my friends once again. With that in mind I made my way back to the Kokiri forest.

It was after midnight when I arrived. The village of Kokiri has always been a serene environment, but in the darkness of the newborn day the silence seemed to surround me like a thick, choking fog. Not one of the forest's inhabitants, not even the nocturnal owls or wolves, seemed to be stirring this morning. I crept through the village trying not to disturb its peaceful slumber. I didn't make so much as a rustle as a made my return to my long vacant house. Or at least I thought it was vacant. As I approached the doorway, my finely tuned senses alerted me of the soft sound of breath being drawn in. I slowly reached over my shoulder for the hilt of my sword with my left hand as I peered inside. In the darkness I could make out the form of someone sleeping soundly in my bed. From the body shape I guessed it was a female a little taller than I was. She seemed also to be someone coming from a high walk of life because she had very little bulk or muscle. I also spotted someone seated near the foot of the bed leaning against the wall. It was another female, this one about 6 feet tall and, I surmised, no stranger to combat. Her breathing revealed that she was asleep but not oblivious to her surroundings and I marked her in my mind as a guardian of some sort to the other female. I could think of only one pair in all of Hyrule that could match these dreamers.

"Good morning, Princess."

Immediately the larger female was awake, armed, and standing. At the sight of me her muscles tensed and her breathing ceased.

"And you're looking lovely as always Impa," I said.

"So you do continue to live. We feared that you had been struck down."

"Me? Never. Why would you think that?"

At this point the other sleeper awoke.

"Impa, what on Earth is all of this fuss about? I can't – Link!" She rose to a sitting position, blushing slightly, and wrapped a blanket around herself. "What are you doing in here? You will leave this instant!"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that this is my house. Why don't you leave?"

"You are speaking to Zelda, the princess of Hyrule, Link," Impa stated in a warning tone. "I suggest that you do so with respect."

"I'll tell you what: you start respecting my property, and I'll respect you. Don't forget that this forest isn't part of the Kingdom." Impa looked to the princess for further instruction.

"Well, get out until I have made myself presentable," Zelda said.

Satisfied, I followed her command. As I stood outside with my back to the doorway, I stared across the village as it slowly awakened. It wasn't the way that I remembered it. Mido used to go to visit the Great Deku Tree at around this time. Thanks to Ganondorf's intervening, however, the father of the Kokiri was no more, and his heir would not arise until Saria, the sage of the forest, realized her destiny. As my thoughts turned to Saria, I remembered that she was the main reason that I returned to the forest, other than my fatigue. I wondered what it was that made her call for me. Again my thoughts were interrupted.

"Your village is beautiful. I can see why you like living here rather than a city such as the castle town," Zelda said.

"It wasn't really a choice I made. My mother... uh... moved here during the war."

"We thought you were dead. Your friend Saria tried to contact you but you didn't answer, and then your fairy returned and wouldn't speak to anyone. What's going on?"

"Truth be told I was kind of hoping that you could tell me. I defeated Ganondorf but you sent me back to this time and took the ocarina. It seems like I did all that fighting for nothing."

"Back to this time? What exactly do you mean?"

I explained to her everything that happened after she and Impa ran off that night. How I retrieved the Ocarina of Time from the river. How I used it to gain access to the Master Sword and how Ganondorf was able to enter the Sacred Realm. How I was locked away in the sacred realm for seven years. At this point she stopped me.

"Link, it is important that you tell no one, not even me, about the future of Hyrule. There's no telling what sort of repercussions may occur."

"Well, OK, I guess. No use messing up the future."

"As for the ocarina, I have it here. It appeared out of nowhere one day. I believed it returned to me as a result of your death but now I'm not sure what is transpiring. The flow of time is warped and must be repaired."

"That's great and all but I was kind of hoping that I could get some rest. Ganondorf didn't go down easily you know."

"Of course. Impa and I will locate Fawn, our horse," she added after seeing my puzzled expression, "you will find us in Saria's house when you awake."

With that she called for Impa, climbed carefully down the ladder leading to my balcony, and walked away.


	2. The Outcast Kokiri

I wish I hadn't dreamt of anything that night. Normally I don't dream at all and when I do, it's never a good one. I'm a bit of a clairvoyant. Every time I have a dream, it comes true sometime in the future. This night I dreamt once again of Ganondorf. He was riding trough Hyrule on his Gerudo stallion with the power of the Triforce. He seemed unsatisfied and was causing destruction everywhere he went. He was searching. Then I saw Zelda and myself running. Our hands seemed to be on fire. After this I awoke. I had shaken myself from my slumber and fallen out of bed. I rose to my feet and shook my head. _There's no rest for the weary I suppose._ I thought as I walked outside onto the balcony. From there I could see that the forest had finished stretching and yawning and was now in full swing. The children were now all busy doing various chores (assigned to them by Mido of course) as movement and sound filled the air. I noticed that there was now a horse standing outside Saria's house. _Zelda and Impa must be inside,_ I thought to myself. I jumped off the balcony and immediately wished I hadn't. Not just because every muscle attached to my bones was aching, although that was a factor, but because the rustling thud brought everyone's attention directly to me. It was as though I had some terrible growth protruding from my face. Everyone simply stared and not a word was shared. I didn't waste time trying to figure out what it was and instead rushed to Saria's house to escape their penetrating gazes. Inside I saw Zelda sleeping on the bed. She didn't seem to be resting, however. She had a solemn look on her face as though she was afraid but was trying desperately to hide it. Then I noticed that her hand was glowing. I ran to her side and shook her out of her groggy state. When I jumped back I had a nice sized red mark on my face from her hand.

"What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

"I'm sorry Zelda but I have to know: what were you dreaming about just then?"

She began to blush slightly. "I don't see how that is any of your concern. What do you want to know?"

"Was Ganondorf in it? Were you and I running from him?"

"With glowing hands... What does it mean?"

"When you gave me the ocarina of time, I used it to open the gate to the Sacred Realm. When I did, I was locked away for seven years. During that time, Ganondorf gained the power of the triforce. Once in the future, I found out that you and I each hold a piece as well. I think that's what the glowing is."

"Then Ganondorf must be searching for us to gain the full power of the triforce. Link, we must run! If he finds us, there is nothing we can do to stop him from gaining the full power."

"Don't worry. I'll stop him."

"You were locked away for a reason Link. You don't posses the power to beat him yet."

After thinking about it, she was right. The hookshot, the fairy bow, the light arrows, all of them were still in the future. It was possible that they didn't even exist yet. "So we run then? We just take off like cowards?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

Rather than give a real answer, I began to leave. My escape was halted, however, when I collided with Impa. "Stay out of my – gasp" Impa vanished before my eyes. Zelda began to scream. The Kokiri children came to investigate. Mido came to accuse.

"So you're done with tormenting Saria and now your harassing this poor little girl? Is there anything you won't destroy?"

"Shut up."

"I figured that after killing the Great Deku Tree and banishing your own fairy you'd learn some respect for something. I figured you couldn't possibly get any worse."

"Shut up!"

"But I should have known that that was too much to ask of you, Link. You aren't even a real Kokiri."

The last remark from Mido was met with a fist. Time seemed to slow down as he went reeling back and Zelda's screaming halted. I was so shocked myself that I almost forgot to pull back my fist. Looking around at the horrified Kokiri children and the chagrin on the face of Mido, I realized that there was only one thing left to do. I ran as fast as I could out of the forest. When I reached the bridge, I noticed the sound of footsteps following me. I spun around to face my unseen companion.

"I apologize for startling you," said Zelda softly. "I want to come with you." I could see how scared she was by the way that her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. There was no way I was going to leave her here alone.

"Fine," I replied much more gruffly than I had intended, "but you'll have to keep up."

We walked on in silence for the next couple of hours. I tried desperately to sort out what had just happened in my head. I decided to take it all one fact at a time. _Mido is not a problem, _I thought to myself._ He's had that coming to him for a while. However, what was he talking about when he said that I had banished my fairy? Navi must have returned to the forest and told them what occurred. I'll have to come back to straighten things out. The top priority right now is Impa. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I know I need to correct it. If there is no Impa in the past, there is no sage of the shadow temple._

"What do you think may have happened to her?" Zelda said.

"Not a clue," I replied. "But don't worry. I'll find out. Somehow." At this point I noticed that Zelda was slowly falling behind. "We should rest soon," I said, "night is falling. We'll head for Lon Lon Ranch." Her only reply was a slight nod of her head. We pressed on through the rest of the day.

We came so close. Only 100 yards from the ranch we heard the sound of a baying wolfos. Night came before we had reached shelter. A stalchild, a reanimated nocturnal skeleton, sprang out of the ground in front of us while its comrade appeared from behind.

"Zelda," I said, "when I cut down the one in front, make a run for the ranch understand?"

"No. I shall fight as well."

"You don't have a weapon to fight with. Just run!" I performed one of my much-feared jumping strikes on the first stalchild, shattering him to pieces. "NOW!!" I yelled.

But my words were wasted. With a wave of her hand, Zelda cast the spell called Din's fire. Her spell casting was not like mine. When I cast Din's fire, it is a simple swell of flame with little use other than lighting torches. Her version of the spell came from within the monster itself and caused it to burst in a fiery explosion. By this time, even more stalchildren had appeared. Zelda wiped out a metal chain and decapitated both with one swing. Then I finished them off with one 360-degree swing.

"When did you learn to do that?" I asked.

"Impa taught me while we were in hiding. I wanted a little practice."

"Judging by what I just saw, you don't need – Look out!" as we spoke a giant version of the monsters we just defeated rose from the grass behind the princess. With those last two words as my only warning, I grabbed Zelda by the waist and quickly jumped back. The monsters slow reaction time caused it to miss and it threw itself off balance for an instant. I released Zelda and attacked while it was still reeling, removing his head. Just then something blue caught my eye. "Princess, the ocarina! Throw it here!" I shouted. The stalchild was wandering aimlessly with four less senses than before so once I had the ocarina I took the time to play The Sun's Song. Time rushed forward and the sun rose, obliterating what was left of our decrepit foe.

Zelda looked at me in awe. "You've learned to control time using the ocarina?"

"That's not important. What is, is how you got the ocarina in the first place."

"I was hoping you knew; I entrusted it to you after all."

"The ocarina was left in the future. You have it. Or will have it." As my sentence ended, the color seemed to drain from Zelda's face. "Yeah," I said, "the whole time travel thing confuses me a little too"

"This is a terrible omen..." she said quietly. "The ocarina would not have returned unless the flow of time had been disrupted somehow and... I was...."

"What!?" I asked urgently. From the look in her eyes, however, I already knew the answer. Zelda was no longer a part of Hyrule's future.

We stood in silence for what seemed like hours. Neither of us had the courage to say a word. I looked at Zelda but she never returned my gaze. _How can she just sit there and say nothing? _I wondered. _What could be going through her head...? I can't take much more of this..._

"I guess we should head into the ranch then, right?" I said. Zelda looked up and seemed to be completely unfazed.

"Yes, we will go to Kikariko Village tomorrow. If we are to find Impa that is the best place to begin our search."

"No need to waste time here then."

That being said, we proceeded to waste time there. After another long moment I turned away and began to move. As I expected I was soon interrupted.

"Wait, Link... take this. If I –"

"Keep it." Without even looking back I knew what she was offerings me. "The ocarina returned to you, remember? The way I see it, it's there for safe keeping." I looked back at her and smiled. She returned my smile and we continued walking.


	3. A Day at the Ranch

"I can't believe I get to meet the princess of Hyrule! THE princess Zelda!"

"She's a little tired. Do you have any place she could rest, Malon?"

"Certainly. She can stay in my room! Right this way, your highness."

Malon was a ranch owner's daughter and lead a simple life. If there was anyone we could trust, it would be her. Once the two of them disappeared into the room, My mind began to wander.

_Now that I've attacked Mido, the other Kokiri kids will never forget it. Even if I explain, they'll always think of me differently. I was like a little brother to all of them. Soon I'll be bigger than they are. Still Saria will always be on my side. Saria... she wasn't in the forest. I may not be able to fully understand her but I can still try to contact her. _I took out my ocarina, but was interrupted.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the forest boy. You certainly do travel with interesting companions," said a sneering voice. "This little tidbit of news may be very interesting to... certain people." I turned to find myself face to chest with Ingo, the ranch hand. I felt a strange tingle in the back of my neck. My sixth sense was acting up again. "Still the strong, silent type? That's fine. Talon says you may stay as long as you like. You are our... honored guests." He turned and walked out the door without a sound. I remembered a time soon to come when Ingo had become a pawn of Ganondorf. I knew that we couldn't stay for much longer.

Zelda awoke after an hour or so and sent Malon to retrieve me. I was a little ticked at being summoned in such a manner. It was a little degrading, but a princess will be a princess after all so I tried to ignore it. I walked up to her door and knocked lightly. Soon a small sounding, almost distant, voice beckoned me inside.

"You feelin' any better?" I asked.

She smiled and said "Yes, thanks to you. Your vocal skills have vastly improved since we first met in the courtyard."

An image of Navi floated into my head but I pushed it out. "There's been a change of plans. Impa is not the only one that has disappeared. A friend of mine, Saria, is also missing. I tried contacting her while you were asleep but there was no response."

"Is there some sort of connection between the two?"

I thought for a moment about whether to tell her or not. _If I tell her, will it affect the future? As far as I know, she had no idea about any of the sages until she became one. Maybe she knew and didn't tell me. She did seem to withhold a lot of information from me as Sheik... _

"Link! Are you paying attention? I asked you a question."

"Sorry... I... never mind. Look, I know you don't understand but we have to get to Zora's Domain. There is someone there who I suspect will disappear soon." She made a face that was seeping with annoyance, but I couldn't tell her anymore. "You'll just have to trust me on this one."

Her face neutralized after a second, but her voice inherited the acidity from it. "Fine then. At any rate, when will we be off?"

"I figure we'll be safe for at least another day."

"Do you feel that we are being pursued?"

"Not sure. We'll leave tomorrow morning just to be safe." I was about to leave but then I added, "Don't spend the whole day cooped up in here. It's beautiful outside."

I opened the door to find Malon staring at me. While I was still too shocked to speak she smiled innocently and said: "Uh... hi! Just came up to see how the princess was doing."

"I'm fine, thank you," Zelda said. "Link was just leaving. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Nope, just wanted to check in."

"I think I'll go get some fresh air then would either of you like to join me?"

"Absolutely... You OK, forest boy?"

At this point I finally shake off my paralysis. "Uh... yeah sure." I began to move away from the two girls. The last thing I heard was Zelda saying: "It appears that you've surprised 'The Unflinching Link'.

I wandered off into the pasture and found Epona, Lon Lon Ranch's youngest pony. "They must train you well for you to get so fast in the future," I said softly. "You may not know it yet, but, in seven years, you'll be the fastest horse alive. I'll come back to get you."

"I thought I was the only one who talked to horses," Malon said, once again catching me by surprise. "I guess it figures. I've never really heard you say much to any human. Must be because of where you're from."

"Uh... well it is... sort of." I told her about my fear of fairies.

"Ohhh... that explains it then, huh? Come to think of it, I haven't seen your fairy friend around. Did something happen to her?"

"We... parted ways." _Come to think of it... she wasn't in the forest either... _I thought to myself.

"I guess we'll be parting ways soon too..."

"I guess you heard while you were 'checking on Zelda.'" I chuckled lightly. "Yeah. We leave tomorrow morning."

"Who's following you?"

"Not entirely sure. Just do me a favor: if anyone comes looking for me, anyone at all, don't tell them anything. You promise?"

"Cross my heart. By the way, I came to tell you that you're staying in Ingo's room tonight. I hope you don't mind."

My heart rose into my throat. "Not at all."

"OK, then. Also, Epona's old enough to ride now. Why don't you give it a try?"

"All right!!" I couldn't help but feel excited. Technically, it _was_ the first time I had ridden Epona so I assume it seemed natural to Malon, but it was strange to me to be so thrilled about something I had done so much in my past. In retrospect, I suppose it was the fact that I was going to do something purely for pleasure. It had been a while...

"Hop on," Malon encouraged. "Don't be afraid; she likes you." I hop nimbly onto place then with a "Yah!" and a light rap to her bottom I was off. I did a few laps around the corral and everything was fine. Then I became a little brazen. A spotted a small fence that I had never noticed before. It had apparently been constructed recently. I tried to guide Epona to jump over it but she stopped dead on her tracks.

"What's wrong Epona?" I asked. "I know I didn't get the angle wrong. You should be able to jump this with no problems."

"What are you doing, Link?" Malon yelled out. "For a beginning rider, you're pretty confident. You've really never been on a horse before?"

As I opened my mouth to speak, the bay of a wolfos floated to our ears. "Wow! It's pretty late!" I said quickly. Malon tilted her head to the side slightly and gave me an inquiring look. "We should probably head back. Besides, I need you to show me where Ingo's room is."

"OK. Come on." I felt as though I had dodged a hail of arrows. I'm a terrible liar and Malon would have likely seen straight through me.

We finally arrived at the door to Ingo's room and said our goodnights. Just when I was walking over to the bale of hay that had been prepared for me, I remembered something. I opened the door and said, "Did you call me Link?" but by the time I had run outside, Malon had already disappeared into her father's room. I had no idea where that was and I was in no mood for a treasure hunt. I retired back into Ingo's room and searched for a place to sleep. As I was searching I felt a presence behind me. My hand began to itch for a hilt, but I kept my cool. _This is not the place to strike without thinking; it may be one of the farmers. I'll wait and see what they do and be ready to dodge if necessary._ I moved towards the middle of the room to give myself more room. As I walked I checked my peripheral vision to try and catch sight of the source of my discomfort. I didn't see it but I heard it move so I decided to try to talk. Apparently I was a little late.

"If you need a place to sleep you can take my bed." Ingo. No wonder I was so anxious.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"At least make yourself a bed from this hay. Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable."

I did make a bed and I did lie down, but I didn't really get much rest. There was still a tingle in the back of my neck. Ingo was not to be trusted.


	4. Altered Domain

As soon as everyone was awake Zelda and I prepared to leave. As we were saying our good-byes, Malon approached me and asked me to take Epona with me. Ingo seemed a little upset but he held his tongue. I was all but speechless so Zelda had to help me. "We would be honored, Malon. It is kind of you to aid us," she said. I nodded her my thanks as well and smiled. Then I turned to leave and beckoned for Zelda to do the same. Once we were back on Hyrule Field Zelda and I mounted Epona. I was worried that she couldn't handle the weight but she seemed to be all right. As we rode Zelda began to speak.

"You and Malon seem very close. When did you meet?"

"The day before I met you, actually. She helped me sneak into the castle without even knowing it. I wouldn't say we are all that close, though. I haven't really had much time for socializing lately."

"I suppose you didn't, did you. I apologize. I can not help but feel that it is my fault. I put you in danger."

"Don't worry, I'm doing this because I want to help. It was my choice, not yours." The river barred our path at this point. I had taken the bridge to avoid it thus far but now I had no choice. "We have to leave Epona here.

"By herself?" Zelda asked. "Whatever for?"

"This river is in our path."

"You obviously don't know very much about horses," she said. "Just cross the river with her." _I do know this horse_, I thought to myself. _Epona hates water._ Despite my feelings, I tried to get Epona to cross the river. Much to my surprise, Epona did cross. "You see. Horses aren't afraid of water." I was more than a little confused, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I figured that she wasn't afraid of water yet. I didn't know how right I was.

We rode Epona all the way up to the waterfall and then dismounted. I played the song and caused the waterfall to part. "We won't be long Epona. Not more than a day. I promise," I said. I jumped across the gap that was once covered by the waterfall and turned to Zelda. "Can you make it?" I asked her. She nodded and leaped nimbly across.

"You're pretty fit to be living in the lap of luxury."

"I've had quite a bit of exercise during my travels with Im..." she trailed off seeming preoccupied.

"Don't worry. With you and me on the case, she'll be found before you know it." She smiled but I could tell it was just a front. I wished I could comfort her but I simply didn't know how. "Come on," I said, "there's another princess we have to find."

The inside of Zora's Domain was very quiet, as was often the case. This time, however, it seemed to be too quiet. The silence appeared to reverberate off of the cavernous walls until it began to engulf the princess and me. It had the effect of putting me completely on edge and I believe it did the same for Zelda. It occurred to me that this was her fist time to visit this place. _She could be just feeding off of my anxiousness. I've got to keep calm. _It was easy to tell myself this, but extremely difficult to accomplish. Something was causing my sixth sense to go wild. Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. "Princess! Get down!" whether I shouted or acted first is still unclear to me. All I am sure of is that as soon as my muscles could respond I grabbed Zelda and pulled her to the ground so quickly that my hat flew off of my head. Even so, I would have felt better if I was a little faster. As I attempted to evade the oncoming attack, I could feel the rushing wind as it swept by, taking with it a few stands of my hair. _What in Hyrule was that!_ The sound it made was familiar, but I couldn't seem to place it. I could still hear the whirring sound ringing in my ears. I tilted my head up and saw a silvery blue blade fly by. I tracked it as it floated down towards the water. I told Zelda to find a hiding place as I rose to my feet. The blade disappeared into the serene depths of Zora's Domain and suddenly, everything was quiet. I stood facing the ledge in the direction that the blade came from. The entrance to the cavern was to my left and a narrow hall was to my right. _That thing flew like a boomerang... _I thought. _I suppose I should get some long-range weaponry ready._ I took out my slingshot in my right hand and my own boomerang in my stronger arm. I saw the water stir in one spot and immediately cocked my left arm into a throwing position. In the next second I saw a glint of light. A blade was flying towards my right side. I instinctively raised my right arm to defend myself. The blade hit the slingshot out of my hands and into the water below me. Suddenly finding myself vulnerable, I ran towards the hall. _Whatever is attacking me is very good at hiding. There may be more than one of them. Maybe I should try some magic..._ I stopped running near a small torch whose fire had gone out. Zelda was hiding near a doorway a few paces away.

"What's going on?" she asked.

I dodged an incoming blade. "Uh... not much..." I quickly ducked to dodge its return voyage. "You may want to run inside."

As she ran inside I gathered my energy. I saw, out of the corner of my eye, ripples in the nearby water pool. _They're in the water! _Just then a tall slender blue figure leaped out of the water. I released all of my stored energy with a loud yell. "DIN'S FIRE!!!" The swirling flame caught the figure in mid air. _A Zora? Why did it attack me?_ My sixth sense was still active. There were more enemies out there, lying in wait. I ran into the shop to check on Zelda.

"You can use magic? I am quite impressed."

"I wish I had time to appreciate the compliment. Can you teleport out of here?"

"Certainly. I shall take us back to the horse." She waved her hands and a bright green light appeared over her head. "Stay close," she said. As the spell surrounded her, I stepped away. "What are you doing!!" she yelled.

"Stay safe," I said as she disappeared. I ran out the door, sword unsheathed. A Zora jumped out from around the corner and I smacked it away with the flat end of my sword. I ran towards the king's chamber. _I saved his daughter,_ I thought. _He'll explain everything._ When I reached the chamber, the King was sitting on his usual spot. His chamber was full of very militant looking Zora. The King began to speak as more Zora filed behind me.

"You return to the scene of the crime. Tread softly, human. We have you surrounded. Now, I want you to tell us what you did with the princess."

"Princess Ruto? I haven't done anything to her. I came here to find her."

"Lying filth!" spat one of the Zora. "We should burn him alive like he burned our comrade."

"Look, just calm down. I think we can help each other," I said.

The King thought to himself for a while then said, "You cannot be trusted. If you didn't take the princess, then you are of no use to us alive. Kill him." Every Zora in the room inched towards me. I tried to remain calm and prepared to fight and slay them all if I had to. It never came to this however. I saw a bright orange light appear and float up to the top of the room and ignite. The Zoras all leaped to the ground to reveal Zelda standing in the doorway. "Shall we?" she asked nonchalantly. We ran to another one of the doorways that ended in a waterfall and without faltering dove right in. On the way down, I was made aware of a new enemy; one strong enough to overpower the entire group of Zoras. This was no ordinary warning, it was like a feeling of despair and dread. I knew immediately who it was. "Ganandorf... He's here..." I said softly to myself.

I instructed Zelda to take the warp to Lake Hylia. Perhaps she could hear the seriousness in my voice because she made no argument this time. I tread water for a short time and tried desperately to locate Ganondorf. I could still feel his presence but I could see nothing. Soon, Zora began pouring down the waterfall in pursuit, and I was forced to either withdraw or attack them all. And what kind of a hero would I be if I committed genocide? I dove as fast as I could for the warp tunnel and disappeared inside.


	5. Showdown

On the other side of the warp, Zelda was sitting on the beach staring off towards the island in the center of the lake. As I approached her she turned to face me. The look she had in her eyes cut into the center of my soul. No matter what we had come across before, she always had this air of confidence about her, as if she knew exactly how to deal with things. Now the expression on her face contained pure terror.

"The dark man... Ganondorf... He was there...." She said.

"Yeah, looks like he's catching up. I think we lost him for now though."

"Why do you say that?"

"The warp tunnel to Zora's Domain had frozen over not long after I went through. If Ganondorf had known there was a connection between these two places, he would have come after us. He must have known he missed us and froze the domain out of frustration."

"Froze the domain?"

"Yeah, he did the same thing in the future...."

Zelda seemed to be in deep thought. She turned back towards the island and I sat down next to her. Then she gasped and jumped to her feet. "Sorry." I said hurriedly.

"It's not that, it's Epona! We left her by the river!"

She began to cast Faeroe's Wind, so I stood near her. There was a bright flash of green light and I felt my body being disolved. The scenery flashed by and before I knew it, we were standing next to Epona in front of the waterfall. Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. **He** was there too.

"Your luck has run out, fools. I knew you would come looking for the fish princess."

"What have you done with them?" Zelda asked with renewed confidence.

"I suppose I got a little carried away. I managed to cool down however. Perhaps it's time to heat things up."

He began to rise into the air and collect magical energy into his arms. Before he had reached the top of the waterfall, I had grabbed Zelda, hopped on Epona and was halfway down the river. He was in close pursuit, but he wasn't attacking yet. Epona did her best to navigate the watery terrain, but he continued to gain ground on us.

"You know what goes well with water?" he sneered.

He fired a bolt of purple lighting into the river and hit all three of us. Epona threw Zelda and me off and fell by the riverbank. My wooden Deku Sheild burst into flames as my body was flung to the ground. The embers of the ruined buckler scratched my face as I slid across the moist earth. I could barely move. My whole body felt numb. _Damn... I can't take too many more hits like that. There's a reason I had to wait seven years to face him._ I looked at Zelda, who appeared to be in the same condition. Her, once beautiful, dress was now caked in mud and grime.

"This seems almost too easy..." the evil king sneered. "I have nothing to fear from you. However, you are continually in my way. Now that I have the golden power, I no longer need to endure you. The princess however has something I need."

I focused all the energy I could and rose to my feet. "You... won't... lay a single thieving finger on her, Scum."

"Fool. Your courage is commendable, even if it is pointless. For that I will let you die with honor, defending your liege. Come; unsheathe your sword."

I pulled out the weapons of a home I couldn't return to and prepared to defend a world I had already saved. As Ganondorf fired another bolt of lighting directly at me, I could hear Zelda chanting softly. A blue aura appeared around the entire riverbank and blocked the spell. Before Ganondorf could react we had already been transported to the Temple of Time. Zelda was standing between Epona and me, gasping for breath. Her knees gave out suddenly and I ran to catch her.

"I think that's the last spell from me for quite a while..." she said looking up at me from my arms.

"Don't worry, let me help you this time. I don't know if my sword can compare to your spells, but I'll give it my best shot."

"I have had quite a bit of practice. Not much else to do except magic when you're... a person in my position." she closed her eyes as her breathing slowed down. "You had... better still be there when I awake. Your job isn't done yet."

"You have my word, Zelda."

If I did sleep that night, I certainly don't remember it. I kept most of my focus on the doorway, but various thoughts were bubbling inside my mind. _All those Zora, he encased them in that ice.... I was useless. There was nothing I could to help. Without the Master Sword, there's no way to defeat him.... Maybe I can use it without moving through time. Would I be able to even swing it in this state? There has to be a way..._

"I hope you know..." Zelda began, "that what happened wasn't your fault. Ganondorf would've done what he did either way. He is pure evil."

"I wish I could believe you. I never told you this before, but in the future, Ganondorf already did all of this. He had already frozen Zora's Domain. Epona was afraid of water in the future. This is probably why."

"That proves my point. You returned from the future before this happened. That means that it was inescapable."

I thought back to the well in Kikariko Village. It was already dry in the future before I tampered with it in the past. "No. My path was set as soon as I removed the Master Sword." I looked towards the pedestal with the three stones and at the Door of Time beyond that. "I can't stay here. I'm not a part of Hyrule's history." I turned and looked Zelda in the eyes. "I want you to hide. I'll be back but until then, don't let Ganondorf find you. Do you understand?"

"But... why? You aren't making any sense..."

"I know. You've got to trust me."

"Wait a moment. Link... I want to give you something. I had this made for you before Impa and I fled the castle." The princess moved to the pedestal of time and retrieved a gleaming metal shield. The way she was walking was slow, almost ceremonious. "It is called the Hero's Shield. I hope you never have to use it." She wasn't smiling. Her expression conveyed a feeling of grief, as though she was attending a funeral. I thanked her and strapped the sheild to my back to replace the one I had lost. It seemed to fit somehow; to meld with my body on a molecular level. She then reached into a compartment of her dress and produced the Ocarina of Time. "Take this as well. You may need it." I tried to refuse, but she would not hear it. Now, she smiled. "The way I see it, I'm giving this to you for safe keeping."

I turned and began to walk away. I didn't want to look back; it hurt me even to think about it. I heard the sound of rushing wind and knew that Zelda was gone. Then I heard a loud snort. Epona walked up and nuzzled my back. I wasn't sure what to do... I knew I had to bring Epona back to the ranch, but I couldn't. I had lost my fairy, my home, and now Zelda. If I brought Epona back, I would be completely alone. So I brought her with me. we walked through the town, towards Hyrule Field. The various salesmen were closing up their shops and draining out of the market. They didn't even seem to notice the green garbed young boy and his pony as they strolled over the drawbridge. "Looks like it's me and you for a while eh, girl? The only question is where to go..." We stood out side the town and watched as the sun slowly fell below the horizon. "You know, you're great and all... but you aren't anywhere near as talkative as Navi." I chuckled softly. "So how about we go get her?" I mounted my horse, and with a quick pat and a yell, we headed for the Lost Woods and didn't look back.


End file.
